SANDIS Blog

Camp High Sierra is a Boy Scouts summer camp located near the town of Long Barn, CA, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The camp site is set in a historical logging camp, allowing the Scouts to fully immerse themselves in the living history, inspired by a mountain-man themed town.

Camp High Sierra is currently going through some fun changes! A brand new dining hall is currently under construction and we, SANDIS, are lucky enough to be out there, helping contribute our engineering and surveying services to this beautiful new building to be completed in 2019.

For more information and pictures please check out the Boy Scouts, High Sierra Facebook Page as well as their website.

SANDIS has won a Merit Award for the Morgan Hill Downtown Placemaking Program project in the ACEC California 2018 Engineering Excellence Award competition!

The SANDIS team was responsible for design of three projects within the Downtown Placemaking Program including the Complete Street Reconstruction, Hardscape and Landscaping and Undergrounding of Overhead Utilities. SANDIS’ efforts to transform the downtown core encompassed:

Complete street reconstruction of Fourth Street between Monterey Road and Depot Street. Improvements were coordinated with and complemented the proposed city-owned Downtown Parking structure and the planned Sunsweet Development Project.

Hardscape and landscaping along First Street, Second Street and Fifth Street on the east and west sides of Monterey Road including:

SANDIS has been working hard on over 50 Bank of America ADA compliance projects since early last year, what is pictured is only a small sampling. It has been and continues to be a huge undertaking with several staff members logging several hundred hours (drafting alone has taken over 400 hours so far!) involving our engineering, surveying and mapping teams.

The Project:
The Palo Alto Bike Boulevards Phase II Downtown/Midtown Project, involves the design and construction of roadway and streetscape improvements along four road segments within the City of Palo Alto. The improvements focus on increasing bicycle and pedestrian safety and connectivity along each corridor.

SANDIS worked closely with City Staff, Community Stakeholder Groups, and Alta Planning + Design, who acted as the Prime consultant, to find an appropriate balance of traffic calming measures, bicycle/pedestrian improvements, drainage and ADA improvements for each corridor.

Picture from the groundbreaking ceremony, at Great America, announcing the new ride the “RailBlazer.”

SANDIS was lucky enough to be on the design team for a new groundbreaking rollercoaster at California’s Great America. The new ride is called “RailBlazer” and it’s the first single rail steel coaster on the West Coast. The single rail allows for a clear view of what is below the riders and it creates a low center of gravity which makes every move more extreme!

SANDIS helped to make sure the spot was secure and ready for the new ride to be approved. We can’t wait to see the final product!

Just like the Raiders, SANDIS is setting up shop in Las Vegas. For the past 30 years, SANDIS subsidiary, Bryant Surveys has been providing surveying services for some of the largest construction projects including The MGM Grand, The Wynn, McCarran Airport Terminal 3, T-Mobile Arena, and many more. SANDIS plans on providing many of the same services that are provided here in California, including civil engineering, land surveying, and construction staking.

Our team will begin working on projects and hiring new, local staff shortly! SANDIS will be working with Local #12 as our local representative.

Bryant Surveys regrets to inform our clients that Brian Bryant, a valued member of the Bryant Surveys team, passed away Thursday, March 2nd. Brian had been working at Bryant Surveys in various roles since his father, Bob, founded the company in 1985. Brian most recently acted as a Project Surveyor based in BSI’s Pleasanton Office. Brian will be missed dearly by the Bryant Surveys and SANDIS staff, especially those who had the pleasure of interacting with him on a daily basis.

Please keep the Bryant family in your thoughts and prayers as they go through this difficult time. If you would like to attend a Celebration of Life for Brian please see the details below.

Veteran's Day is not just another holiday. It is a day of remembrance, appreciation and thanks to all of the men and women who have sacrificed their lives to support and fight for our country. Today, SANDIS has gladly given the day off to all of our veterans, with much gratitude. We will also be donating our time and money to support our favorite military charity Operation Care & Comfort at their annual care package event this weekend, although it will never express how we truly feel.

Today is a day where we can be selfless and give back. We understand that not everyone can afford to donate money, and every business may not be able to give their veteran's the day off, but we ask that you take the time to show your appreciation. It can be as simple as shaking their hand or paying for their cup of coffee, it's up to you. We just ask that today you recognize the veterans around you in your families, communities, schools and work places and thank them for their service.

For those who have served and continue to serve, Happy Veteran's Day from everyone here at SANDIS.

SANDIS Civil Engineers Surveyors Planners is pleased to announced, that in partnership with US Relieve, our joint venture team has been selected by Dragados Flatiron Joint Venture as the most qualified consultant to provide construction survey controls for the California High Speed Rail. Our SANDIS-US Relieve Joint Venture will be working closely with DFJV on the Central Valley stretch of the rail system.

SANDIS-US Relieve will report to Dragados-Flatiron, who is acting as the design-build contractor for the Construction Package 2-3 project, as they begin construction on the project, which runs from E. American Avenue in Fresno to one mile North of the Tulare/Kern County Line.

Ken Olcott, Principal and President of SANDIS said “this project will be a major milestone for our surveying department and our company as a whole. Throughout the company’s history we have worked on a number of major transportation projects, but this one will have the largest impact.”

About SANDIS

SANDIS is a professional services corporation specializing in civil engineering, traffic engineering, stormwater management, QSP/D, land surveying, 3D laser scanning, utility locating, and planning. Established in Northern California in 1965, SANDIS is a California Corporation comprised of over 165 employees. SANDIS employs the best and the brightest in our industry. We recruit well rounded individuals committed to innovation, excellence, leadership and environmental stewardship. SANDIS’ expertise is expansive. We service private and public clients in the corporate, commercial, residential, academic, healthcare, hospitality, civic, justice and public works sectors. SANDIS’ design achieves economic, social and ecological sustainability.

For the past two years SANDIS has been advocating and utilizing sUAS (Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems), otherwise known as drones, to perform surveying work more safely and efficiently. When it was announced that the FAA will be enforcing new rules this August regulating the safe use of sUAS we paid close attention. A few of the recent rules for the operation of sUAS include:

Craft weight must not exceed 55 lbs

Craft must be operated in a manner than does not interfere with any manned aircraft

Must be operated within “Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) of the person operating the aircraft”

Operation of an sUAS now require a remote pilot airman certificate (or an unlicensed operator under the supervision of someone with a remote airman certificate

Also, sUAS can only fly over people who are involved with the project utilizing the drone and only if they are inside a structure or a stationary vehicle. Fortunately, at the beginning of our sUAS program our leadership had the foresight to research previously established guidelines and then enact safety restrictions before the first take off. So, while we pride ourselves in using the most innovative, enhanced tools, we greatly value safety and efficiency. All of the previously listed rules and more have been in practice since day one of our sUAS program. We will continue to honor our commitment to safety and accountability to our clients and staff by always staying at the forefront of new FAA regulations.

sUAS affords us the mobility to gather detailed data from previously inaccessible regions. We have used sUAS on numerous occasions to survey both large and small rural areas in many cases where hazardous materials and unsafe structures present. SANDIS will always be striving for better ways to deliver the precise data needed to design or build more complex projects with better coordination and better accuracy.

For more information about our sUAS/UAV surveying program contact Andrew Chafer at 408.636.0900 or achafer@sandis.net.